To TIBS. With love.

Chin Kuong Hing
Bukit Batok West Avenue X
#XX-XXX

To the manager,
Trans-Island Bus Services

Complaint about buses. (1) (edited)


I have been a TIBS commuter for the last 12 years and I am generally satisfied with the services that were provided. There was not much problems during the first 6 years of my bus taking experience with TIBS. That was the period when I was a Primary 1 to Secondary 1. And after that period, I became dissatisfied and unhappy with the services.

There was a time in 2004, I always had to stand in buses. Maybe it was because people thought that a 1.45m student needed a seat more then a 1.60m student. Thus, I had to begin life as a standing student ever since because I had hit the 1.60m target. Then, I have to compete with aunties, uncles, adults and students for seat as those people no longer gives up their seat for me.
And that was when I am just 14 years old.

Next, whenever I boarded 187 or 188 in the wee hours at approximately 6.45am or so, I would be able to locate a prime ' window seat' that nobody seems to bother to sat on, with most of the commuters seated on the outside seat even though it was very crowded. 'Hmms, a seat', I thought to myself. ' That is a great relief.' So I would ask them nicely for the seat and they will happily / reluctantly give it to me.


But they always never tell me that the air con above is dripping onto your head. (most of them anyways.)

What will you do if you are in my situation?

a) Tell the uncle / auntie I don't want to sit down already. And risk the wrath of the standing commuters and the wrath of the lao ah peks and ah mahs.

b) Say ' Oi. Sia la. Why you never tell me it is dripping water sia. I wan to get out of here.'

c) Tahan awhile. A seat for the back and legs is better then seeing those folks grumble and mumble about you behind your back.

d) Take a tissue and stuff it into the aircon vent. And pray that the tissue plan do not backfire and drop back into your head.

e) Take out your umbrella and tell the uncle / auntie beside you that it is raining heavily inside the bus.

So being an intellectual person, I will definitely choose D. But the problems comes in. I DO NOT BRING TISSUE REGULARLY TO SCHOOL. So automatically, I , being the noble type of people, would choose C.

As the Chinese saying goes, 如果我不入地狱，谁入地狱呢？Which roughly translate to ' If I don't go to hell, who will?' So I will suffer this unbearable 'torture' until I reached school or when the person beside me had alighted.

However, if the bus technicians had bothered to check on the air con vents, I will not have to suffer and come to this catch-22 situation, which can be very awkward and shameful. So, I appealed to TIBS to maintain their buses and air con regularly please. Thank you very much.

Yours faithfully,
kh.